Beausoleil talks expansion, new cocktail menu

Beausoleil Restaurant & Bar will have a new bar and banquet space next door by early summer, according to co-owner Jeff Conaway.

The new concrete-top bar will feature room for about 16 patrons, and a banquet space with room for 50 will be located in the back.

Conaway says the new bar will be an important addition for the restaurant located at 7731 Jefferson Hwy., which currently has a small bar with just enough room for a few patrons waiting for a table.

“The bar we have now is an area where people that are dining might want to have a martini before they sit down,” he says. “But if I were to take you back there to see all the ingredients we have, you’d be amazed. There is so much that we can highlight [with a designated bar space], it’s insane.”

Though Conaway did not comment on Beausoleil’s planned catering service, he did mention a new cocktail menu that will debut in upcoming weeks.

The menu will feature a mix of popular drinks the bar has done in the past as well as new drinks using fresh citrus juices and house-made sugar concoctions.

“We’re just trying to keep all the fresh ingredients going,” he says.

Among the new drinks will be a Louisiana Bulldog, which features Oryza Vodka, Swamp Pop’s Noble Cane Cola and Kleinpeter milk. The menu will also feature takes on the gin drinks the Aviation and Bee’s Knees, barrel-aged cocktails and the “World’s Greatest Amaretto Sour.” Patrons can also expect signature drinks like the Blackberry Bourbon Lemonade, Mississippi Mule, Grapefruit Sidecar and Boulevardier, which features bourbon, sweet vermouth and Campari.

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